Portable fence



(No Model) B. NORTH. PORTABLE FENCE.

No. 431,820. Patented July 8, 1890.

WrlnqEEE-Es: 2%

"UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'ROBERT NORTH, OF BLOOMER, MICHIGAN.

PORTABLE FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 431,820, dated July 8, 1890.

Application filed July 1, 1889. Serial No. 316,183. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT NORTH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bloomer, in the county of Montcalm and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Fences, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in portable fences; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction of a rail or board fence consisting of end supports and diagonal supporting-braces, the latter carrying the lower rails of the fence in suspension and at the same time securing them against accidental displacement, and, further, in the peculiar arrangement of the diagonal supporting-braces in relation to the end supports, whereby any of the rails composing the fence may be removed or replaced, or either of the braces themselves may be removed or replaced, without requiring that the whole section be taken down, all as more fully hereinafter described.

In the drawings which accompany this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved fence, and Fig. 2 is a crosssection thereof on line :0 ac.

A A are two uprights crossed near the top at B, forming the end supports for the rail 0.

D are diagonal braces extending in both di-' rections from the end supports, and attached thereto and to the upper rail E, and holding in suspension the lower rails.

In constructing my fence the two uprights A A are crossed and the diagonal braces secured in the position shown, and the bindingwire F is placed around the uprights and braces at their point of intersection, as plainly shown in Fig. 2. The upper rails E are then placed in position, and the binder G is used to secure the upper ends of the diagonal braces thereto. The lower rails, below the crossing-point B of the end supports, are now placed in position and secured to the diagonal braces by means of the binders H.' A binder I connects the two uprights and supports the lower end of the rail J. The ends of this rail J are lap-jointed together, as shownat K in Fig. 1. It is evident that two sections of the fence are bound together by the diagonal braces D, as the lower rails of one section are supported thereby, being rigidly secured thereto by means of the binding-wires, while the upper rail of the adjoining section is secured to the upper end of the diagonal brace by the binding-wire G, the diagonal brace upon the other side forminga similar connection between the two adjoining sections of the fence. The rails J being secured snugly into the crotch below the crossing-point of the standards A A, and held in such position by the binder I, in combination with the upper rails E between the upper crotch of the standards, the two sections of the fence being bound together by means of the diagonal braces, and being prevented from passing each other by means of the lap-joint K, there can be no possible displacement of the fence either endwise or sidewise. It will be seen that every section of the fence is rigidly braced at both ends by the diagonal braces, the diagonal braces being placed at the outside of the standards AA. In case they are required to be replaced with new ones they may be taken off without interfering in any way with the rest of the fence, and the new ones replaced by simply removing and replacing the binding-wires. This construction also permits of using up the short rails, as shown at the left of Fig. 1, where short rails L are secured to the diagonal braces by a single wire passing over the ends of the two short pieces. However, I preferably construct the fence of long pieces extending the entire distance between the end supports.

This construction of fence permits of the greatest economy of material, as there is no overlapping of the rails, and, as previously explained, all short lengths or broken rails may be used up to the best possible advantage without in any way detracting from the appearance or strength of the fence. It may be rapidly built; but, while being a suspended fence, the rigid connection to the braces holding the suspended sections acts in the nature of a truss, which greatly adds to its security.

The advantages of my fence over those of similar construction is that none of the rails are secured to the ground-supports, and thus any'ground-support can be removed and re placed Without interfering with any other part of the fence, and as the ground-supports are most liable to be broken by the Whiffletree, drag, or other tool at work the advantage is obvious as compared with other constructions in which the top rails are secured to the ground-supports. Further, every rail is fastened independently, and may be replaced when broken, and any single length of the fence can be taken out for the purpose ofa gate without injury to the fence or disturbing the adjoining ends.- This peculiarity is an important one, as every farmer is aware.

What I claim as my invention is In a fence, the combination of crossed ground-supports placed at right angles to the fence,longitudinal braces crossing the ground- ROBERT NORTH.

Witnesses:

W. A. SWEET, J12, RACHEL A. SWEET. 

